What's the difference between acrid and bittersweet?

Acrid


Definition:

  • (a.) Sharp and harsh, or bitter and not, to the taste; pungent; as, acrid salts.
  • (a.) Causing heat and irritation; corrosive; as, acrid secretions.
  • (a.) Caustic; bitter; bitterly irritating; as, acrid temper, mind, writing.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Children and the elderly were urged to stay indoors and some residents who ventured out wore face masks as the acrid murk entered its third day.
  • (2) Not via muttering idiots, but upfront, with an acrid twist.
  • (3) Beijing has issued its first pollution red alert as acrid smog enveloped the Chinese capital for the second time this month.
  • (4) The acrid taste left by the election was heightened by the US diplomatic cables published by WikiLeaks which revealed Amano's assiduous courting of American support .
  • (5) The controversy became so acrid that in April, more than 100 prominent members of the local church took out a full-page ad in the San Francisco Chronicle asking the pope to remove Cordileone from his position for fostering “an atmosphere of division and intolerance”.
  • (6) Moscow was veiled in acrid smoke from such fires this morning as landmarks disappeared from view and commuters clutched handkerchiefs to their faces.
  • (7) As MPs inside debated the draconian economic reforms that eurozone nations and the IMF have demanded in return for the biggest bailout in history, riot police outside fired off rounds of acrid teargas to keep the crowd at bay.
  • (8) Beyond lies Kamrangir Char, a vast slum where clouds of acrid smoke from burning rubbish hide tenements packed with thin men, anxious women and grubby children with tubercular coughs.
  • (9) A thick acrid smog enveloped Moscow today as scores of fires blazed and peat bogs smouldered outside the city.
  • (10) The sun was directly overhead and the acrid smell of burning plastic stung the back of her throat.
  • (11) Bumper-to-bumper traffic, much of it stationary, the acrid steam of a thousand exhausts hanging in the cold winter air.
  • (12) Look at the garbage fire right here,” he adds, pointing toward a thick cloud of acrid smoke across the street.
  • (13) The elder sister, who is 19 and pregnant with her second child, squints but sits still in the acrid air.
  • (14) The wind carried the acrid smell of several burned vehicles across town, and most Muslims hid in their homes.
  • (15) The Finns like to have it in everything from drinks to soap and as I drank the sweet, slightly acrid concoction, Eveliina recited a Finnish saying: “If sauna, vodka and tar don’t help, the disease will kill you.” In the sauna itself, there were other treatments.
  • (16) Acrid plumes of smoke – produced by forest fires triggered by drought and other factors –are already choking cities across south-east Asia.
  • (17) Its acrid smell and particulate matter irritate the eyes, nose, and lungs and cause nausea; it is also a suspected vector for transmitting infectious materials, such as the human papilloma virus (HPV) associated with condyloma (a wartlike lesion) and cervical cancer.
  • (18) When the Guardian visited Monywa earlier this week, the air around the plant was filled with the acrid stench of sulphuric acid.
  • (19) In minutes thick, acrid smoke engulfed the house, swiftly taking the lives of six children, aged five to 13.
  • (20) Amid this sea of shacks, many constructed from corrugated iron haphazardly bolted together, piles of rubbish go uncollected and acrid water runs down unpaved dirt tracks.

Bittersweet


Definition:

  • (a.) Sweet and then bitter or bitter and then sweet; esp. sweet with a bitter after taste; hence (Fig.), pleasant but painful.
  • (n.) Anything which is bittersweet.
  • (n.) A kind of apple so called.
  • (n.) A climbing shrub, with oval coral-red berries (Solanum dulcamara); woody nightshade. The whole plant is poisonous, and has a taste at first sweetish and then bitter. The branches are the officinal dulcamara.
  • (n.) An American woody climber (Celastrus scandens), whose yellow capsules open late in autumn, and disclose the red aril which covers the seeds; -- also called Roxbury waxwork.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) For the embattled people of Ali Akbar Dial, a collection of disappearing villages on the southern tip of the island in Bangladesh , the distant trees serve as a bittersweet reminder of what they have lost and a warning of what is come.
  • (2) The revolt represents a bittersweet victory for Tsipras, who now has to rely on “pro-European” opposition parties to push policies through parliament.
  • (3) The song is that musical embodiment of bittersweet chemical comedown when you still feel divine but your heart skips a beat and you don't always quite catch your breath."
  • (4) It’s been a bittersweet week for NHS providers – the hospital, mental health, ambulance and community NHS trusts and foundation trusts who treat a million patients every 36 hours and are the backbone of our national health service.
  • (5) Emma's work is also showcased in the shop until the end of May in Sad Stefano and Friends (pictured), an exhibition that promises to capture the bittersweet complexities and confusion of childhood.
  • (6) She said the prospect of stricter gun control laws was bittersweet.
  • (7) This time, they held out but there were some hairy moments after Wayne Rooney’s sending off and it was a bittersweet occasion for the man Louis van Gaal had entrusted to be his captain.
  • (8) Winter stem fluid from the bittersweet nightshade, Solanum dulcamara L., also showed the recrystallization inhibition activity characteristic of the animal thermal hysteresis proteins (THPs), suggesting a possible function for the THPs in this freeze tolerant species.
  • (9) "Unless we move to adopt a new economic model, the recovery will prove unsustainable and bittersweet for those who do not benefit from it before it is extinguished."
  • (10) After Liverpool announced the previous day that their captain would be leaving for MLS , Rodgers’ feelings about the source of the rescue act must have been bittersweet: could it not have been someone, anyone, else?
  • (11) And that could be crucial.” It seems that the particular bittersweet combination of nostalgic memory is vital to such effects.
  • (12) He drinks and dances and talks his way through a couple of days in the city, arriving at a moment of bittersweet joy as he watches his younger sister ride the carousel in Central Park.
  • (13) In a bittersweet farewell, Gabrielle Giffords , the US congresswoman recovering from a gunshot wound to the head, accepted chocolates and a big presidential hug as she claimed her seat one last time in the House of Representatives during Barack Obama's state of the union address.
  • (14) There is another a bittersweet angle to the story: the relationship between Ramphele and the DA's current leader, Helen Zille, who is giving up the presidential candidacy, dates back to the death of Ramphele's former partner, the Black Consciousness activist Steve Biko.
  • (15) These memories are associated with a characteristic affective coloration described as "bittersweet".
  • (16) Two months later, many of the students who pushed for the change say the decision is bittersweet.
  • (17) It's pretty much perfect: the story of a love that can never happen, between a failing Dublin songwriter and a Czech immigrant, it has that Brief Encounter bittersweet ache to it.
  • (18) Everyone else has written about her, so it’s a chance to give her version.” Obama’s favourite word in recent months has been “bittersweet” as she cycles through the calendar of events for the last time.
  • (19) She added: "I can only imagine how bittersweet her freedom must be for her, leaving Shane and Josh behind."
  • (20) And in a bittersweet twist of political fate this quiet revolt by the people of the East End may yet lock Ed Miliband out of 10 Downing Street.